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St Bees has county’s lowest internet speeds

ST Bees has the lowest broadband speeds in Cumbria, a survey has revealed.

The price comparison site uSwitch said broadband speeds for the village are 1.25mbps, which is much slower than the 5mbps which is being recommended for homes and businesses around the country.

The slow internet speeds have had an impact on people living in the village ,as well as nearby St Bees School.

Colin Helliwell, network manager for St Bees School, said: “In the last six months we are now able to access more cost-effective high speeds which will be 250mbps. Up until then, we had to constrain the internet usage.

“The boarders were not able to use Skype or social networking sites to contact family and friends because we did not have the internet capacity to let them do that.”

He said in the past students have found it difficult to access the internet for studying and researching during class times, as the internet connections will slow even more.

Mr Helliwell said: “A home user may use between one or two mbps, but when you are supporting a school, which has around 250 pupils, it means the internet runs extremely slow or will crash.”

He added that residents in the village are keen to have the standard broadband improved.

The survey revealed that Cumbria, and Carlisle, has the third slowest broadband speeds across the country, of 3.24 mbps – around 50 per cent slower than the national average.